Whether you're a line manager of an engineering firm or a sales director in charge of twenty sales people – one issue that all managers and senior employers face, is keeping your team constantly and consistently motivated.

With the cold mornings still against us, staff are naturally feeling a bit low. What can you do to give them a kick start and get them motivated and excited to come to work everyday with a smile on their face?

When your employees feel motivated, they engage more with their work and this in turn has a positive affect on the whole team's output. Happy employees equals happy clients! You have a vested interest in the quality of your team's work, obviously, but you also have a responsibility to contribute towards their job satisfaction.
Of course, every individual will relate to different methods of motivation, but here are seven ways of keeping your team's spirits high:

1. Make them feel valued

People want to feel valued and love to receive praise and recognition for a job well done, especially in front of their peers. Praise can go along way to make them feel like they are part of the team and achieving their goals. From prizes of a bottle of wine for a team member bringing on a new client that week, to vouchers for meals out, it doesn't have to cost you a lot and the options are plentiful.

2. Clear frequent communication

3. Encourage career progression
If an employee sees little room for advancement, they may feel they have nothing to work towards. Create extra responsibilities for staff to expand their experience and put them in better stead for promotions. Provide training and development opportunities and as well as showing employees you're confident in them.

4. Create a positive working environment
The office atmosphere can have a very powerful impact on the way people work. Any conflict or negativity will almost certainly restrict workflow, so make sure you're providing appropriate platforms for employee feedback.
Let them have fun and make the team feel valued. Do you celebrate birthdays or get involved with charity events? Why not raise some money for a good causes whilst staff boosting staff morale.

5. Give them responsibility
An employee who only receives small, menial tasks, will in time become unhappy in their role. Likewise if someone's been overloaded with work they might struggle under the pressure. Try to delegate responsibilities that will add variety to an employee's day.

6. Define their career paths
As well as developing your staff for progression opportunities, it's important to show them where you think they're headed and helping them get there. Regular appraisals and target-setting provide a good setting for this, and are also a good opportunity to review and praise your employees' work.

7. Employee surveys
An effective way of finding out how employees really feel in their role, is an anonymous employee survey. The findings of the survey may highlight issues you were not aware of and help you to identify changes you need to make. Keep staff informed by displaying the monthly results where they can be clearly seen.

Staff appraisals are an official route to find out how employees are feeling, although you may find they might be less willing to talk directly to you. Another way to gain people's views is to have a suggestion box, where people can drop in their new ideas.

It really pays to frequently monitor how your staff are feeling and create different avenues for them to give their honest feedback. This will also be of benefit to your business when you next hire, as you clearly demonstrate to potential new staff the various methods in which you motivate your employees.

If you would like to talk to our consultants about ideas to motivate your team further contact our Consultancy team on 0116 524 5433 or email hello@precision-people.uk